OLYMPIA, Wash. — As of Thursday, Washington State’s gun background check law is in effect.
Initiative 594 was approved by 59 percent of voters in November.
I-594 expands background checks to private sales and transfers, such as online gun sales, gun shows and many loans and gifts.
The goal is to ensure every buyer goes through the same background check, regardless of whether the purchase is with a licensed dealer or a private sale.
There are some exceptions, including transfers between family members and antiques produced before 1898.
Mitch Barker, executive director for the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, said he’s heard concerns about possible increased workload for the local law-enforcement agencies that run the checks.
“None of us will know until we get up and running,” he said.
The FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System processed more than 560,000 firearm background checks in the state last year and has processed more than 388,000 between January and the end of October of this year, according to the agency’s online report.
How many more checks might actually occur is hard to predict, since the size of the private market is unknown.
“Responsible gun owners aren’t going to see a difference,” said King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg, who campaigned for I-594. “What it might do is raise the risk for people who are willing to sell guns, no questions asked.”
But opponents say people will still find a way to get guns without background checks.
“The guy who is a convicted felon who knows he can’t have a gun is going to get it anyway,” said Don Teague, the owner of a Private Sector Arms in Olympia.
Opponents had taken the most issue with language that requires checks on transfers.
Barker, the executive director of the sheriffs and police chiefs association, does not believe that handing a gun to someone else violates the initiative, but he said that eventually the state attorney general will likely be asked for clarification.
As for how to enforce the law, Barker said that’s a bit trickier.
“If somebody committed a crime with a firearm, and if the source was tracked back to someone who didn’t do a background check of the person who they transferred the gun to, that to me would seem to be the most likely scenario where a law-enforcement official would take action,” he said.
Under I-594, a person who knowingly violates the law could be subject to a gross misdemeanor; a knowing violation twice or more is a Class C felony.
KIRO
